Man Sets Self On Fire On Japan Bullet Train, 2 Feared Dead

A passenger on the stretcher is carried by rescue workers from a Shinkansen bullet train after it made an emergency stop in Odawara, south of Tokyo, in this aerial view photo taken by Kyodo June 30, 2015. (Reuters/Kyodo)

Japanese officials have confirmed that a man set himself on fire on a bullet train bound for the western city of Osaka from Tokyo. Two people are feared dead.

According to local media, a man poured an oil-like liquid over his head and attempted self-immolation.

"We have been informed that there was a passenger in a car on the train who covered him or herself with oil and set it on fire," a spokesman for the train operator, JR Central, told AFP.

The fire department of Odawara in the Kanagawa Prefecture said that the man and a female passenger died on the train, while two other people were injured, the Japan Times reports.

"We received information indicating that a fire broke out near a toilet and two people were in cardiopulmonary arrest," a spokesman for Odawara Fire Department said.

"Other passengers were also injured," he said, without specifying how many.

Television footage showed people being evacuated from the train, which stopped in a residential area. Several people were carried out of the train on stretchers.

Bullet trains, called Shinkansen, travel at a speed of up to 320km/h and have been widely regarded as a safe way of traveling. Many thousands of Japanese people use them for commuting daily.